The Heat Is On As Primary Pupils Bake Off

A Gullane Primary School pupil has been crowed the winner of the Golf Inn’s first ever Dessert Cooking Competition.

Emma Chapman, aged nine, battled against five other competitors from her primary six class to show her baking skills to a panel of judges.

However, it was her delicious chocolate brioche and butter pudding that made her stand out and be crowned the winner of the junior baking competition.

The pupils had been challenged to come up with a dazzling dessert. It could be a pudding or a cake, a reinvention of a classic or even granny’s old recipe.

Each pupil included a detailed recipe and description of how their dessert is made, give a paragraph explaining why they chose to make that dessert and provide a photograph.

The list of entries was then narrowed down to just six finalists who went along to The Golf Inn for a final “Bake Off” to display their culinary creations to a panel of judges.

Maureen Tremmel, Head Teacher at Gullane Primary School, said: “I think this baking competition at The Golf Inn was a fantastic idea to get the children baking and learning new skills. The sheer amount of enthusiasm the children have displayed about this so far is very encouraging and is just great to see at such a young age.

“It’s very important for children to know how to cook safely in the kitchen and to learn the importance of eating meals with family and friends so this competition is great real-life experience for them.

“The final desserts were of such an outstanding quality. I am so impressed with all the finalists and hope we can do this again next year.”

A team of judges including Lisa Johnson from Humble Pie Food Cook School, Roy McGregor owner of the Gullane Art Gallery and Jules Reeley, owner of the Golf Inn tasted the top six desserts and had the tough decision of selecting just one winning dish.

Emma Chapman will now see her creation feature on the restaurant’s menu for four weeks, as well as enjoy a family meal for six at The Golf Inn and a £40 gift voucher to use at Humble Pie Food Cook School.

Emma said: “I am so happy to have won this competition. I was really nervous but so glad I entered as I had a lot of fun with my class at The Golf Inn.

“I decided to make the chocolate brioche and butter pudding as it’s my dad’s favourite pudding so he is really happy I won too. I can’t wait now to take my mum and dad to the restaurant and see my dessert on the menu.”

Jules Reeley, owner of the Golf Inn, added: “The number of entries we received was just fantastic. It’s great to see all these young children so enthusiastic to be in the kitchen and cooking with fresh ingredients.

“One of the main reasons we decided to hold this competition was to encourage children to get into baking and to use their imaginations to see what they could come up with. We – at The Golf Inn – believe it is very important to encourage and develop creativity in young people and that includes the valuable life skill of cookery.

“All of the finalists’ desserts were extremely impressive so it was very difficult deciding on just one winner but Emma’s dessert really did tick all the boxes.

“I can’t wait for the dessert to appear on the menu now and see what our customers think of her delicious creation.”